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McCameron shoved himself between them. “Quiet, both of you, or Eddings will come back and cane us raw.”
Five minutes hadn’t passed, but already chaos had erupted. Seb looked over at Rowe, who hunched down in his seat and mumbled to himself.
Seb grimaced. Was the kindness the other boys had shown him an aberration? Or were they all simply too different to be cordial, let alone friendly?
It was going to be a very long day.
Chapter 1
London, 1817
Reptile or human, you were guaranteed to make a cake out of yourself when mating season arrived.
No, that wasn’t fair—to reptiles.
Take the eastern fence lizard, Stellio undulatus. When it came time for the creature to attract a mate, a male performed a series of charming head bobs to show off its lovely bright blue stomach and throat, all of this done in complete silence.
But the human male—more specifically, aristocratic human males of London Society—sported garish clothing while striking poses in conspicuous places and making harsh, barking noises that guaranteed any female in the vicinity had no choice but to take notice.
As she approached the Benezra Library in Kensington, with her maid Katie in tow, Grace Wyatt’s naturalist’s eye couldn’t help but observe the trio of young bucks congregated on the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street.
Dandium vulgaris. The Common Dandy.
Grace neared the three men who appeared to be between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five years old, of average height and coloring, possessing no distinguishing facial features, and notable only for the expense of their coats and waistcoats, which let prospective mates know that at the least, their material comforts would be assured.
Their sexual and intellectual comforts, however . . . those were less certain.
“Did you clap peepers on the selection of beauties last night at the Haverfords’?” one of them bleated.
“A few rum morts, that’s certain,” another said. “Quite a bevy!”
“Jolly right,” the third added.
As Grace drew closer, she realized she knew the men, having encountered them at numerous galas and fetes over the years. She couldn’t recall their names—one overbred lordling was much the same as another—but was fairly positive she’d danced with two of them as they had considered her potential as a wife.
Earls’ daughters were infrequent, their dowries substantial and bloodline impeccable. At twenty-six, she was somewhat old for an unwed woman, but she was healthy and all the women in her family lived long, fertile lives, bearing their husbands several sons. A few daughters, too. But the sons usually lived into adulthood, and there was no reason to assume she also couldn’t bear healthy heirs to whomever she granted breeding privileges to. Having assessed her physical features as they’d developed over the years, she’d determined that she was, by most standards, reasonably attractive.
These factors alone made her a good catch. Any gentleman would be lucky indeed to marry her.
But did she want to marry them?
“Lady Grace,” one of the men chirped as she neared. The three bucks all bowed.
“Gentlemen,” she replied.
A second dandy added, “Looking charming—as usual. Are you out for a bit of shopping?”
“Headed to the library, in fact,” she said.
A look of profound bafflement creased the men’s faces.
“Er, with books?” the first dandy asked.
“Generally,” she answered levelly, “the thing that qualifies something for being called a ‘library’ is the presence of books.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather buy a bonnet?” the third dandy said with a hint of desperation. “My mother and sisters love the things. Always getting new ones.”
“Much as I enjoy new bonnets,” she said, “they are not repositories of information about amphibians, nor reptiles.”
“I suppose not,” the second dandy said glumly.
After a long pause, Grace said, “Thank you for the charming conversation, but I’ll be on my way now. To the library. With books. Not bonnets.”
The trio of men bowed again, wishing her a good day, before she moved on.
A wry smile tilted the corners of her mouth. Evidently, she wasn’t missing much by failing to land a husband from the ranks of Society.
